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But Wednesday's early morning transfer
seemed unlikely to relieve pressure on Yanukovich who has been thrown
on the back-foot by sharp Western criticism of his treatment of his
rival.

Deputy Health Minister Raisa Moiseyenko said Tymoshenko was moved from her prison in Kharkiv to a local clinic Wednesday morning.

Dr Lutz Harms, a neurologist with Berlin's Charite clinic, will supervise her treatment at the hospital because Tymoshenko does not trust government-controlled doctors.

Moiseyenko said she hopes the hospitalisation and treatment will prompt Tymoshenko to end her hunger strike.

Ukraine's Deputy Health Minister told reporters Tymoshenko was moved to the hospital this morning

Supporters supporters near the jail in Khariv shouted out 'Freedom for Yulia!'

Fears: Yulia Tymoshenko thought she was 'in the last moments of her life' during the 'attack', her daughter said

Tymoshenko was jailed last October for seven years for alleged abuse of
power while in office, a charge she denied.

She says she is the victim of a
vendetta by Yanukovich who narrowly beat her for the presidency in
February 2010. The European Union and the United States have condemned
her trial and sentencing as politically motivated and called for her to
be released.

Authorities have denied she was mistreated.

Her daughter, Yevgenia, said on
Tuesday her mother had agreed to end her hunger strike under the
supervision of a German doctor in a local hospital.

Eyewitnesses in Kharkiv said
Tymoshenko was brought to a side entrance of the hospital by ambulance
on Wednesday morning in a heavily guarded convoy that included several
police cars.

Two lines of white-coated hospital
staff shielded her as she was carried into the hospital on a stretcher,
preventing journalists and onlookers catching a glimpse of her.

A few supporters nearby shouted out 'Freedom for Yulia!'

Video: Eugenia has called on authorities to release surveillance footage of the 'attack'

The state prison service, in a
statement, confirmed she had been moved to hospital 'for the course of
rehabilitation recommended by the international medical commission'.

Tymoshenko appeared placid and
untroubled at World War Two Victory Day celebrations on Wednesday,
despite the growing political pressure.

Addressing war veterans in Kiev, he
spoke of the need to defend world peace by shunning 'populism of all
types', but remained silent about Tymoshenko.

Controversial: Yulia Tymoshenko during her trial last year

In an embarrassing setback on Tuesday,
he called off an informal summit meeting in Yalta of Central and
Eastern European leaders after several of them said they were staying
away because of the Tymoshenko affair.

He quickly drew fire for this from other opposition figures.

Arseny Yatsenyuk, leader of the Front
of Change party, said cancellation of the Yalta meeting amounted to a
'shameful failure' for Ukraine.

'This leadership is dragging the
country and its people with it into international isolation,' Interfax
news agency quoted Yatsenyuk as saying.

Vitaly Klitschko, world heavyweight
boxing champion who heads the Udar party, said: 'The leadership clearly
has no wish to change the situation and meet calls by Kiev's European
partners to respect human rights and democratic standards.'

Western outrage over the treatment of
the charismatic Tymoshenko, who led the 2004 Orange Revolution street
protests which doomed Yanukovich's first bid for the presidency, has led
to threats by European politicians to boycott the European soccer
championships which Ukraine co-hosts next month.

The prestigious, month-long Euro-2012
tournament which Ukraine is co-hosting with Poland from June 8 to the
final in Kiev on July 1, is meant to showcase the former Soviet republic
as a modern European nation with its heart set on joining the
mainstream.

Some individual Western government
ministers now say they will not attend Euro-2012 matches. European
Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said he has no plans to
visit Ukraine and the other 26 commissioners are following suit.

An EU diplomat said he expected EU
foreign ministers to 'harmonise and coordinate' strategy towards Ukraine
at a meeting in Brussels on Monday.

The row over Tymoshenko has already
led to the indefinite shelving of the signing and ratification of
landmark political and free trade agreements with the EU.The beating is alleged to have
occurred on the evening of April 20, while prison guards transferred her
to hospital to be treated for back pain.

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Yulia Tymoshenko is receiving treatment in hospital following her hunger strike